Lorde Royals

IF the pop culture planets align, a musical phenomenon will sweep the world each year.

In the past five years, the music industry got lucky with a raft of seemingly overnight sensations - Lady Gaga, Adele, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Gotye, Psy and now Lorde.

All eyes will be on her as she walks the red carpet at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday and her champions from this part of the world will be hoping she walks away qwith at least one trophy from the four nominations she has won for debut single Royals and album Pure Heroine.

The New Zealand teenager has enjoyed a rapid rise this year after the cautious three-year development of her songwriting and sound after being signed at just 13.

When the young Ella Yelich-O'Connor was paired with Kids Of 88 musician and producer Joel Little, the sound of a future star was born.

Between them, these young songwriters would conjure music that was so fresh and innovative that disbelieving industry cynics sought to uncover the svengali hit maker behind it all.

They missed the bleeding obvious.

Lorde, a 16 year old New Zealand singer, is about to launch her debut album. Picture: Nowytarger ReneeSource: News Limited

Lorde and Little hit pop paydirt with Royals because it was the embodiment of a generation's attitude to music.

A postmillennial teenager has access to all of the music in the world with the click of a mouse or swipe of a screen.

They consume it voraciously and don't care what genre it is as long as all their friends are sharing it on social media.

Lorde, with the help of Little, managed to find that sweet spot where electronica, hip hop and pop meets with Royals and the world applauded.

"Nothing is in one genre, nothing is easily defined. My first love is electronic music and then going to top 40 pop and hip-hop and weird pre-jazz records and taking from each of those and figuring out what was missing, what I wanted to hear in it," she says. "I think that's what people my age do."

What people Lorde's age also do is to resist the hype machine.

Her manager Scott Maclachlan's primary role is saying no. He told a music industry conference before the ARIA Awards in Sydney last year that her tender age dictated a "less is more" approach.

They agreed to license Royals to a Samsung television campaign to build her presence in territories where her music was brewing but the restrictions on her schedule ruled out personal appearances or tours for the time being.

Everyone wanted Lorde and they wanted her now but management was not allowing anyone to burn out a teenager.

"I signed her when she was 12 and it took almost four years to get it right. If I was working at a UK or US record company I'm not sure we could have done that," Maclachlan said.

Another key ingredient in her musical melting pot is the emotional quotient of her songs and the intelligence of her lyrics.

"If I didn't write about things that mattered to me, there would be no point.

"I think there is a lot of emotion in music right now but pop music may be lacking it. That's why I stand out in that field because I'm not singing 'I'll take you higher'."

The level-headed pop star who asks Taylor Swift for advice on dealing with fame and attended her private birthday party in Melbourne last December is equal parts excited and pragmatic about her Grammy prospects.

"It would be super awesome to win a Grammy, I mean it would probably be the craziest thing that will ever happen to me if it happens, but it definitely won't cheapen or make less anything I've achieved," she told themusic.com.au

She isn't the only artist flying the flag from this part of the world at the Grammys.

Perth rockers Tame Impala will be competitive in the Best Alternative Music Album with Lonerism while independent Melbourne buzz band Hiatus Kaiyote is a shock inclusion in the

Best R & B Performance gong for their song Nakamarra featuring Q-Tip.

Old Grammy hand Keith Urban figures in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for Highway Don't Care, his collaboration with Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw.

Lorde returns to Australia this week to join the Laneway Festival.

The Grammy Awards are broadcast from noon on Fox 8.

The Laneway Festivals kicks off at the RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane on Friday.

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